September 7, 2012

Clint Eastwood reveals. He'd flown in just that morning, reassured the campaign that "everything I would say would be nice about Mitt Romney," took a nap in the hotel, and then began thinking about what his remarks would be. He came up with 3 points: “That not everybody in Hollywood is on the left, that Obama has broken a lot of the promises he made when he took office, and that the people should feel free to get rid of any politician who’s not doing a good job." But he didn't figure out exactly how he'd say it. He got to the convention site "just 15 or 20 minutes before I was scheduled to go on," went through security, said hi to Archbishop Dolan (who sought him out), and was taken to the backstage area to wait for the cue.

“There was a stool there, and some fella kept asking me if I wanted to sit down,” Eastwood said. “When I saw the stool sitting there, it gave me the idea. I’ll just put the stool out there and I’ll talk to Mr. Obama and ask him why he didn’t keep all of the promises he made to everybody.”

He asked a stagehand to take it out to the lectern while he was being announced.
“The guy said, ‘You mean you want it at the podium?’ and I said, ‘No, just put it right there next to it.’”...

Originally, he was told he could speak for six or seven minutes, and right before he went on, he was asked to keep it to five, but he said, “When people are applauding so much, it takes you 10 minutes to say five minutes’ worth.”

Also, there were no signals or cues of any kind, so “when you’re out there, it’s kind of hard to tell how much time is going by.”

He also said he was aware he hesitated and stumbled a bit, but said “that’s what happens when you don’t have a written-out speech.”

He went back to the hotel, ate some room-service dinner, and went to bed — apparently without checking the TV or the internet and not knowing we were all talking about him. He's seen it now, and he says the media folk who disparaged him "are obviously on the left."

Beautiful! I'm glad he waited a week to say that. And that he said it to The Carmel Pine Cone.

I've been telling everyone he's the only person I saw who made any sense this election (because he didn't say "nice things about Mitt Romney" beyond "I think that Mr. Romney and Mr. Ryan are two guys that can come along") but told us not to trust politicians and "we own this place."

"President Obama is the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people,” Eastwood told The Pine Cone this week. “Romney and Ryan would do a much better job running the country, and that’s what everybody needs to know."

Just another day ... of being totally awesome. Imagine all the planning and preparation and blood, sweat and tears that goes into making Obama seem cool. This guy just rolls out of bed and embodies the concept.

"Even into his 80s, Eastwood ... is still making two movies a year... and is about to direct a remake of “A Star is Born” — To locals who know him, the idea that he is uninformed or senile is laughable."

Democrat's propaganda machine, the MSM, are going to have another palpitation. Their propagandists' "impartiality" showed, didn't it?

Who calls a newspaper a "Pine Cone"? Wonderful! Possibly papers in the west are more creative -- the Boulder "Daily Camera" comes to mind. Much more interesting than the vanilla "Posts," "Times," "Journal," "Tribune," etc.

I knew Eastwood had a winner as soon as the MSM started foaming at the mouth with outrage.From now on when Obama's name is mentioned everyone will see an empty chair. Just as when Clinton gave his finger-wagging endorsement everyone in the country remembered the finger-wagging "I did not have sex with that woman, Miss Lewinsky, not one time" Case closed Eastwood was a winner.

I knew Eastwood had a winner as soon as the MSM started foaming at the mouth with outrage.From now on when Obama's name is mentioned everyone will see an empty chair. Just as when Clinton gave his finger-wagging endorsement everyone in the country remembered the finger-wagging "I did not have sex with that woman, Miss Lewinsky, not one time" Case closed Eastwood was a winner.

By +7, you mean 52/43. Is this registered voters, likely voters or adults? What's the breakdown? Is it using a realistic D+1-3% at most partisan split, or is it using the ridiculous 2008 turnout model?

He's talking about solely the Gallup poll (which does show that Obama is at 52/43, which is about +7, but that's not normally how people refer to favorable ratings when they stand alone like that, it can be done, but it is kind of clumsy, as I thought he initially meant 57/XX.)

See, the key to understanding Garage is to figure out what he's talking about. He's talking about the job approval number, not the head-to-head. He's technically telling you the truth, but it's not what you would think he means when he says it.

Well, I was convinced that Eastwood had intentionally built in all those hesitations, but, notwithstanding the "Pine Cone" story, I'm still not sure he didn't. The man has phenomenal state presence. A smooth delivery would have been less compelling.

Ahhh Lindsey--admit it--you're dreaming of getting a rock hard Eastwooding from an 82 year old manly man. Stock tip--buy P&G options--the sale of Tide is going though the roof due to all the wet panties caused by Clint and Paul the next 60 days.

I still don't see what garage mahal means, Matthew. The job approval poll says 52% approve/43% disapprove of Obama. There isn't a corresponding Romney job-approval rating, because he isn't in office. The "who would you vote for" poll has Obama ahead of Romney by three points. So where is garage's 7% from?

"Gosh I wonder how much more clever he could have been if he had even more time to consider the skit...."

Why even your comments could use some polish at times. Mine too.

I wonder how many of you posting here have ever made a speech or performed in front of hundreds of people? Thousands of people? Merely 50 or less people?

How many of you have ever given a completely' scripted' speech? How about an extemporaneous, spur of the moment speech? Or in the case of Eastwood a speech based on a few talking points and just winged it?

I have. All of the above. In my profession I would give seminars and classes monthly and often twice monthly. The talking point and winging speech is the style I prefer.

I was asked to be a speaker at various functions for which I would prepare the talking points and wing it, adding humor and playing to the audience and fielding questions at the end. Often I would be called upon to suddenly talk about a topic for which I had not made preparation.

None of that is easy.

Obama is good at the completely scripted speech and he really really sucks when off teleprompter, which shows that he doesn't have a very nimble mind or a quick wit.

That Clint Eastwood did as well as he did with a talking point speech, not scripted, made us laugh, got his point across.... and made such a big impact is extremely impressive.

Nomadic100 said...Well, I was convinced that Eastwood had intentionally built in all those hesitations, but, notwithstanding the "Pine Cone" story, I'm still not sure he didn't. The man has phenomenal state presence. A smooth delivery would have been less compelling.

We totally loved the Clint Eastwood schtck - it was so Bob Newhart (who we adore)....

And that he gave this great interview about his creative process to the Carmel Pine Cone - his local press - is just precious.

Hollywood awesome. And I have never put those two words together until now (clue - I never got the Hollywood love for Ronald Reagan back in the day but I was young back then....too into Doonesbury's "In Search of Reagan's Brain" and all that...)

But Clint - I not only get you - and so did my folks in the room - but I loved every bit of your moments on the GOP stage.

This story was in the NPR national news this afternoon along with the line. They said something along the lines of 'He only had three points he wanted to make including that president Obama has broken a lot of promises.'

His interview with a tiny local paper got NPR to state that on a national newscast. Excellent!

Obama and bin Laden.Sort of makes you wonder why Nixon had to resign when he was the Godlike leader that OK'd the risky moon mission....and succeeded where JFK and LBJ failed!!!

To be fair about NIxon, though his order to launch was as big a no-brainer as Obama green lighting whacking Binnie once the CIA team the Bushies put together found him...he didn't dither for months.

Eastwood is right, the chair is empty.He is also right that the media and pundits only have the power we give them through our believing they are credible or believe others think they are credible. By confessing he didn't even bother to tune into what thousands of hysterics said after his speech and felt that only a convenient local reporter was worth the bother to talk to, Eastwood made the media and pundits ...SMALLER.

The really beautiful thing is that this story shows Clint's low regard for politicians even better than his speech did.

Here's this guy who's asked to address the convention of one of the two great parties of the United States, and so he flies across the country and goes to the venue -- and THEN, only THEN, does he start to figure out what he's going to say. He is not impressed by the occasion. He doesn't even bother to look at his rushes.

And if Romney is elected (God willing!), and he screws up, you can count on Clint to tell us so.

@Jim - Really, what was that all about? Was she off her meds? The lily white Harvard educated Canadian former governor of Michigan, droppin' her g's and talking like a Black preacher. Why don't Blacks get offended when Dems do stuff like that?

I had read a lot of comments about Clint Eastwood's speech, and got splashed by a lot of crocodile tears from Democrats who said Eastwood had embarrassed himself. Then I watched the speech myself, and found out what a triumph it really was. The Democrats were lying for political purposes -- surprise!

Eastwood made the plain-spoken statement, "We own this country. It's not you owning it, and not politicians owning it. Politicians are employees of ours." That's different from Obama's view, which is that he and his cronies, a semi-hereditary ruling class, own us.

"When somebody does not do the job, we've got to let them go. . . . We don't have to be mental masochists and vote for somebody just because they seem to be nice guys." That is, we don't have to subscribe to the absurd, insane Obama-worshiping cult of personality.

They say the proof of the pudding is in the eating, and actually listening to Eastwood's speech demonstrated that once again.

One of the things I like about Eastwood is that he seems completely disinterested in proving himself to anyone, at this point. That's unusual in an actor of any age. They tend to have a driving need to be liked by everyone.

George Clooney, of all people, seems to share that trait with Eastwood.

I got my wife started on Spaghetti Westerns, which she had never seen. She now thinks, as I long have, that Clint Eastwood is about the greatest actor, ever. And director.

What's interesting is that films like The Outlaw Josey Wales were not all that big a deal when they were released, but since then they've become must-see classics, frequently quoted by anyone with any awareness of post-18th-Century culture.

Then I watched the speech myself, and found out what a triumph it really was. The Democrats were lying for political purposes -- surprise!I had the same reaction. Nothing bizarre about it. It wasn't the Dems, it was the media...never mind.

Of course, their reaction made more people notice it. I hope Clint was clever enough to plan it that way. Romney sure lucked out. I wonder who on his staff panicked that evening.

I enjoy the fact that those who think Eastwood embarrassed himself with the way he delivered his speech have nothing to say about Obama when he gives a speech without a teleprompter and wanders and uh uh uh scattered just as much thru his speech. Interesting. Even better is the way the left portrays him as senile, despite the fact that he is socially liberal on things such as gay marriage and abortion, and would be a natural ally on those issues should their be a Romney administration. I guess the important thing is dissent shall not be tolerated.

I've watched the CE empty chair routine once but listened to it 2 more times. It is much better to listen to because the video is a mishmash and distracting. CE nails it with the dialogue - a true professional.

"I enjoy the fact that those who think Eastwood embarrassed himself with the way he delivered his speech have nothing to say about Obama when he gives a speech without a teleprompter and wanders and uh uh uh scattered just as much thru his speech. ..."